I needed to grow up
by resse
Summary: Lily had no idea of college even being in the plans of Chuck, so when he expressed his wish to attend college she was ecstatic,she was prepared to make phonecalls and donations, she was not prepared to hear the universities location he chosen
1. starting fresh

Summary: Lily had no idea of college even being in the plans of Chuck, so when he expressed his wish to attend college she was ecstatic, she had expected him to ask her to make some phone calls and was even prepared to make a couple of donations to get him a late acceptance letter into Yale or Harvard, she was not prepared however to have him tell her that he already gotten into college, and was even more surprised at the universities location..

Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip girl or the characters featured sadly. I know this probably has been done, but oh well hope you like it, review, I'll try updating once a week

Chapter 1:

_Coming frosty morning,_

_there's not a lot to say, about the things going on in my mind,_

_And as the day was dawning, my plane flew away with all the things going on in my mind_

_I don't wanna see you when you're coming down_

_I don't wanna be there when you hit the ground_

_Oasis-lyla_

He had left, decided to start over, slate clean and fresh, so there he was working on becoming the CEO he was meant to be, which somehow in some weird way involved having to sit in a classroom through classes which involved a TA and other classmates discussing the lecture that he would be attending next day in the afternoon in which an actual teacher was to deliver him the knowledge that would fully prepare him to take over Bass industries.

Lily had been genuinely surprised when Chuck requested her to stay as head of Bass industries while he attended college, she had no idea of college even being in the plans of Chuck, but when he said that as a recent high school graduate he didn't really believe to be fully prepared to undertake the job and also wanted to have the whole college experience she didn't object.

What did take Lily by surprise though was Chuck's pick as to where attend college, she had expected him to ask her to make some phone calls and was even prepared to make a couple of donations to get him a late acceptance letter into Yale or Harvard, she was not prepared however to have him tell her that he already gotten into college and would appreciate having her deposit his twenty thousand pounds tuition to the account he just printed out.

The conversation had taken place in the same living room in which he once asked her for help against his uncle, and in the sofa where Lily asked him to consider moving back in with them and requested having him as a part of her family; he had later on thanked her, asked her if the offer was still on hold and eventually became a family.

Genuinely surprised Lily asked-"pounds?" - to which Chuck replied-"of course, I see no point in attending 4 yrs of college when I can obtain my degree easily in the UK in three years, the whole extra year is to figure out what I want to study and there is no point to it really, and there is also the fact that there's no better school to study economics, business and management in the world.. Plus London will be a fresh start and do the work just fine don't you think?"

Lily- "I can't argue your point; however are you sure you want to leave? I though we were doing a great progress becoming a family and all".

-Chuck-"believe me there is no one more surprised to say this than me. But, I like having you take care of me as a parent, and Serena's dramas are not all that bad, even Eric is ok. But, so many things have happened this last year, that I just believe leaving and starting over sounds like a good idea".-Lily-"does this decision somehow involves a certain brunette girl who happens to be my daughters best friend?"- Chuck-giving a profound sight- "she is just so messed up now, Blair I mean, loosing Yale somehow changed her, I know she'll eventually find herself and fix up once again, but I feel so helpless, like I cant do anything to help her pull herself together, maybe because I'm so messed up myself".-Lily-gently putting a hand on his knee-"so London huh?"-"We can all spend Christmas break in Europe if that makes u feel better"-replied Chuck-Lily-"whole college experience, does that mean you want to stay at the universities dorms also?"-Chuck- with an horrified look-"please no"-Lily- laughing whole heartedly- "I wouldn't subject you to dorms, but you did say the whole college experience, so I guess this involves a nice town house or apartment and finding also someone to fetch after yourself"-Chuck- "can we just move some of the people who clean my room here to London, I got no idea of how Mrs. Holstein does it, but she's as good as the maids from the Palace"- Lily- "so u want to deprive me from my life long maid on top of it all?"-Chuck-shrugging-"it was just a suggestion- Lily- "don't worry I'll find someone to make sure you don't end up renting a suite at the Windsor palace, according to this papers school starts at the end of August, how about we travel two weeks before school starts?, yes I am going with you to make sure you'll have everything you need"-Chuck- "that is alright I guess, odd, but alright"-Lily-smiling-"Will we see you on school breaks?"-Chuck-standing up-"I guess we can work around it"

With that he had left the room, not looking back to see Lily pick up the papers from school and read them over with a smile on her face, he had meant everything he said, he was glad he finally had a family and it brought some comfort to know that there was an adult who cared about him like the mother he never met, but then he also believed he needed to get away, to find some peace, to find himself.

True to her word Lily Vander Woodsen had made the arrangements to leave in the Bass jet with Chuck, Serena and Eric for two weeks, hotel reservations, arrangements to meet a retailer, found a nice four bedroom apartment overlooking Trafalguar square, and also sat and interviewed numerous people to find a cleaning team and cook that would look after Chuck.

In the meantime, Serena had somehow managed to blackmail Chuck and Eric into accompanying her shopping all over Oxford and Bond Street, they also had partied a bit, but once everything was fixed and one week already into his semester, his family had bid him farewell. Lily also needed to make arrangements for Serena's departure to Brown in a week, but since that was in the US, things were bound to be easier.

On the night before leaving and after having family dinner and everyone retiring to their own rooms, Serena had knocked on his door and asked him if there was anything he wanted her to say to Blair

-"Do u want perhaps to write something to her so I pass it along?"-

Serena had sat on the corner of his bed crossed legged while he simply lay back and covered his face with his left arm-his room wasn't that much different from the one he had at Lily's place he guessed Lily had taken it upon herself to make him feel home even at the other side of the Atlantic

- Chuck-pulling his arm from his face and sitting up on his shoulders-"I, I just don't know, I, I love her you know?"-Serena stared at him shocked and said "I know, but then why are you leaving her? I don't get it"-Chuck-sitting up-"because, I can't have her now, I cant help her, she needs to fix herself in the same way in which I need to fix myself, maybe someday, if u do see her, tell her to be happy, that I am ok, going to school and all"-giving a smirk- "if u want to continue shopping like u did this past few weeks I better learn something in school so we don't go bankrupt"-Serena-pretending to be offended and playfully hitting Chucks arm-"very funny Chuck, plus I'm not nearly as bad as B"-smirking-Chuck answered- "Eric and I might object to that, we had to carry your bags after all, you wanted to feel all brit and walk"-Serena-"seriously, anything you want me to tell her?"-Chuck-"tell her I didn't leave because of her, that I needed this, that I am trying, that she should try and be happy, tell her not to wait for me, she deserves being happy, and also tell her that, tell her that I do love her, even if I've never been able to say it to her face"-Serena-"Chuck, B is going to be ok. She'll fix herself, she always does, but she always had u by her side, I dunno how long it will take her without you there"-"that's the thing Serena, we need to find out who are Chuck and Blair on their own, what we are capable of without each other"-responded Chuck--Serena-"I get it, I understand, but that doesn't help me from wishing things were different, I care about you both, and.. well.."-Chuck- "we are going to be alright"-

standing up form his bed and grabbing Serena by the arm- "since we are not sleeping tonight apparently, how about we ask the cook for a fondue and go wake up Eric, watch some movies?-Serena-"sounds like a plan".

And then that's how he had ended up in a classroom that was not nearly as nice as the ones from St Jude's academy, but he guessed some schools like this one spent most of their money on paying off the faculty, the lectures where ok. But having to attend these prep classes was not something he actually enjoyed; yes econometrics was a bit confusing but he though he could pull it off on his own while having a scotch in his living room, not really going over exercises and doubts with his classmates and a TA, however what was going to become a weekly quiz that he took last Friday proved him wrong, so there he was with fourteen or fifteen of his classmates watching as the TA solved the exam which he barely had passed with the help of the grading curve.

Chuck had been to school now for a total of a week and a half, his family had left on Monday afternoon after he got back and this was his third econometrics class, he attended this "study group" as he saw it twice a week on the afternoon for about an hour and a half, Tuesday and Thursday, he had the formal lecture with a professor Wednesday and Friday, so "classes" were something along the lines of prep and doubts to look over what they did not understand on the lecture, assistance was compulsory on top of it, but he did promise Lily to behave after all, and he actually wanted to keep his promise. Not being completely over the Elle fiasco and later on the even bigger blow over with Blair, Chuck had not been desperate to return to his womanizer habits, plus he hadn't really met a girl who stricken his fancy yet.

Lost in thoughts about his family and Blair, he only became aware of what was going on in the classroom when the Italian TA walked up to a corner of the classroom and called a girls name

- "Miss Rothschild, since you seem to dismiss your classmates question, perhaps you know the answer"- the girl answered- "there is no point in looking at the coefficients on the exercise since the variables are not significant which you can easily now looking at the confidence intervals and P values, I was not dismissing my classmates question, but I though we already had covered that material and would be moving along to prepare for next class, not wasting our time looking at the material of last Fridays exam"-

The TA was blocking his view from the speaker, and his back seemed to stiffen from Chucks view, apparently he hadn't expected the response-the Italian TA answered- "well that would be the normal procedure, but since most of you didn't perform well on the exam…"-Chuck heard the girl pulling up her bag from the floor, fumbling some papers and actually saw her hand drawing the TA her exam, a perfect mark-finally speaking the girl again asked- "since I already now the material we are covering for today's class I'm hopping there wont be a problem if I retired? Will there?"-The TA-"no of course not, Miss. Your attendance is already registered"

The TA finally walked back to the front of the room while the girl with the mysterious voice gathered her things into her bag, Chuck hadn't seen her face yet, her voice had a weird accent, it wasn't British, and it sounded like an European and American weird mix he couldn't quite place, when the girl finally stood up, he saw an impeccably well-dressed girl, not thoroughly as Blair, she actually looked comfortable, and her hair was light brown with golden reflections, straight and long, a nice slim figure.. Someone who was definitely comfortable on her own skin, to have talked down the Italian TA who was having to much fun from his authority position from his point of view. Chuck was not prepared to see the face of the girl, once she stood straight up he saw a doll like face, a girl with a baby face, innocence written all over it,white skin, slightly sun burnt from the summer accentuating what were distinguishable freckles, golden brown eyes, sad eyes he decided.

The girl didn't do much as glance over the classroom and leave, there were about forty minutes left from class, and Chuck couldn't keep himself from wondering about a certain Miss Rothschild. He was intrigued. Once the class was dismissed and prepared to walk the short distance to his new apartment, he saw her again, smoking against a wall, something that was an odd contrast with the innocent imge she displayd but somehow went with he r personality; she was probably waiting till her next class or waiting for someone; he decided to get a cup of coffee from a cart watching from afar Miss. Rothschild lightly smiling when a Mercedes pulled over and no other than Carter Baizen stood down and pulled her into a hug, which she happily returned giving him a kiss in each cheek, taking a last drag of her cigarette she walked over to the wall to put off her cigarette and threw into the trash can getting into the car with Carter who had taken her notebook, smiling.

Chuck was definitely intrigued.

Next chapter:

Carter-"I don't want you near her"-Chuck-"so you can mess with Blair, but you actually care if I do something as simple as request a notebook from a classmate?"- An smirking Chuck responds-Carter-coming closer to Chuck and pulling him by his shirts collar-"of course I care, she is my…"


	2. my name is

Chapter 2:

_Down my education I can't find the words to say all the things going on in my mind_

_I don't wanna be there when you're coming down_

_I don't wanna be there when you hit the ground_

…

_Me and you, what's going on?_

_Oasis-lyla_

So Carter was in London, treating a girl fairly decently, reaching out for her like he actually cared. Miss Rothschild then wasn't a simple classmate, that's for sure; he kept thinking over he last name over and over but couldn't quite place it, suddenly Chuck's thoughts over mystery girl and Carter where interrupted y his cell phone.

News from home

Gossip girl:

Last Gossip of the season… I may be already in college, but this news are all over, B was formerly seen registering for classes at NYU, apparently her stepfather made a few calls, its not Yale B, but well it has to be better than community college. She seemed quite happy after talking with S who just got back from Europe, what news did she bring? And where is prince charming B? Neither boy whose names start with a C has been spotted.

XOXO Gossip girl

Next day:

Chuck-walking with a cup of coffee on his hand and towards his house, talking to himself "next stop, getting a new cell after calling Serena"

Exhausted and tired, after eating dinner, calling to check on Lily and everyone to see they made it home safely, and prepared himself mentally for econometrics tomorrow, he was actually looking over at his own quiz and trying to figure out were the girls response fitted better and still couldn't place it…why again had he decided to become responsible?

School was killing him, maybe Yale wouldn't have been so bad, hmm perhaps he could call Lily and pretend to be homesick, no that wasn't going to work, after getting out of his government class he decided to hit the library for the first time in his life, he was going to sit down and actually study. Bart Bass after all had wanted him to get a couple of A´s at school at some point, so what if it wasn't high school, college would suffice, that's if he actually managed to understand the series of numbers lined up in front of him.

And that's when he saw her again, entering the library and heading towards a table on the ground flour, she was pulling out her econometrics book, and actually talking to the girl who's question she had dismissed in class yesterday, pretending to walk down to log in into one of the computers he sat across from the girls only to here her say

Miss Rothschild-"so you see, its actually not that hard, just dismiss the variables who's significance does not start with a point zero, and also if the confidence intervals do include the zero cross them out, focus on the other variables and explain the impact of the coefficients over the dependant variable" girl-"could I borrow your notebook before class to photocopy your notes?"

Chuck was pondering why he hadn't thought of that… notes from someone who seemed to understand what was going on… then he was suddenly interrupted from his thoughts as the Rothschild girl stood up and appeared by his side, casually leaned down and whispered on his ear-"you might want to go and photocopy my notes with her,-glancing at the computer screen and lightly smirking- by the way looking at porn sites on the universities library is sorta frowned upon"-with that she turned to leave and walked away-

The other girl had remained sited with her classmates notebook on her hands watching the show, seeing the gorgeous boy who was obviously in the same class with them paralyzed in shock, she couldn't suppress a laugh at his expense.

Blair could take him out of his reverie casually, it was a given, all she had to do was make some sort of sexual innuendo and he would be flackbasterd for a second, but other than Blair embarrassing him Chuck Bass was a difficult task, who does did girl exactly think she was?

Once he repaired on the other girl sitting in front of him Chuck quickly stood up, pulled a ten pound bill from his wallet and said-"would you please get me a copy? Thanks"-with that he was leaving the library building also and looking for the Rothschild girl.

Temperature was still around twenty six Celsius degrees, so it was fairly warm, he spotted her walking out of the student store sporting a bottle of Evian water, wearing black shorts, and a button down shirt along with red sandals, she was quite a sigh; he casually walked up to her and casually said-"I believe that if you're gonna laugh at my expense, you should at least know my name, I'm Chuck Bass"

He expected a witty comeback or having her openly flirt with him like most girls did, from her behavior at the library he certainly did not expect the blush that reached the cheeks of the girl, and much less her next words- "I, I am sorry, I wasn't trying to embarrass you,.. I, hmmm Mariel Rothschild, my name is Mariel Rothschild"-"nice to meet you Mariel"-replied Chuck in a smoother tone-"but if you weren't trying to embarrass me, what exactly were you up to?"- Mariel who seemed more composed replied "if you were following me and hearing my conversation, I believed I had the right to call you on it"-"what makes you believe I was keeping tabs on you?"-To that the girl casually replied-"look over at the corner, see them? I've been looked over my whole life,-in a slightly upset tone- I believe I can tell when someone is keeping tabs on me, we are going to be late for the lecture, you coming?"

Chuck indeed looks at where the girl was pointing and saw a couple of older men who didn't stand out but didn't really fit into the campus scenario, bodyguards? Yeah, apparently he was on his way on becoming friends with someone with whom there was more than what met the simple eye.

Chuck-"yeah I'm coming"-Mariel- in a slightly sarcastic tone-"don't worry as long as I don't do something as drastic as scream they wont come closer, lets go"

They had walked towards the building where the lecture was to be held, he sat through the whole thing, and watched her taking notes on the notebook she received back upon entering the classroom, Chuck had sent the girl who had given Mariel her notebook back a pointed look when she was about to talk to him, that along with the professor entering the room had them reaching to the closer couple of sits they could find.

Once walking outside the building and on the street, the same annoying girl walked up to them and said- "here –extending a set of photocopies- I didn't get to give them to you before class, oh and here's your change-handling him more coins than he would have liked to take in his hand-directing to Mariel-oh and thanks again"

Mariel-slightly amused-"no problem" -before turning to Chuck-" I hope you understand my handwriting, I write like a boy"-Chuck-smiling and putting a handful of small coins into his pants pocket-"I'm sure I'll manage, thanks for the notes"

Carter was on his way to pick up Mariel from school, she had been down lately and he was slightly concerned, yes Carter Baizen cared about someone other than himself, he saw her from afar talking to some boy who he didn't recognize, probably a classmate, well that was good, she needed friends, but he was surely going to lay down ground rules for her new male friend.

With that though in mind Carter walked towards Mariel, thinking of surprising her, coming to a stand point when he heard:

-"I'm sure I'll manage, thanks for the notes"

Carter-"well well, if it isn't Chuck Bass himself?-Chuck-"Carter, I see you're back from Dubai"-Mariel-"so you know each other?"-Carter turning to Mariel and pulling her up to his side -"yeah he is not someone you want to be associated with darling"-Mariel turning to look up to Carters face-"hmm interesting, but Carter, you're not someone I should be associated with either, and that hasn't stopped me from enjoying of your acquaintance, has it?"-Carter-"will discuss this home Mariel"-turning towards Chuck- Carter-"I don't want you near her"-Chuck-"so you can mess with Blair, but you actually care if I do something as simple as request a notebook from a classmate?"- An smirking Chuck responds-Carter-coming closer to Chuck and pulling him by his shirts collar-"of course I care, she is my cousin"

-Mariel-coming close to the two boys and pulling Carter by his arm-"stop it Carter, you're drawing peoples attention"-Carter-turning to Mariel and letting go of Chuck-"I'm sorry"-Mariel-giving no room for Carter to speak-"and I can take care of myself, I'm sure you'll be able to find a way home, if not, hail a cab, remember the old man gets pissed if you're late for dinner"-with that she turned to leave and get inside the Mercedes that was parked on the street-Carter-"Mariel wait, come on don't be pissed"-Mariel-turning towards her bodyguard who was opening the cars door for her-"my cousin will be finding another ride home"-turning towards Carter-"I still expect to see you at Whisky Mist around eleven, oh and bring your friend, I do want to know why I had to pick you up from Dubai"

With that Chuck and Carter were left standing on the side of the street as they watched the car depart.

Carter-"great"-Chuck-smiling-"so Miss. Rothschild or shall I say Mariel is your cousin? Well she definitely is way better to look at than you"-Carter-"she is a handful"-Chuck-"I'll be seeing you later"-with that Chuck turned to leave-Carter-"Hey, wait up, I need to get home, can u give me a ride?"-Chuck-"I ´m walking home, don't look so shocked, but here"-with that chuck took out the handful of coins inside his pants pocket and gave them to Carter before he could realize what Chuck was depositing in his hand, leaving Carter standing on the street alone.

Next Chapter:

With a cherry lollipop on one hand and a glass of whisky on the other, directing to Chuck-Mariel-"so how exactly do you know this clown?"

…..

"You didn't put much of a fight when I asked you to join me in Dubai"-Mariel-"I was somewhere along the lines of heartbroken, saving your ass seemed like a good distraction"

…..

Blair-"I'm so glad you're back home, I have everything planned for this Christmas break"

AN: I'm already working on the next chapter, I've got some ideas, now the thing is writing them out; expect a chapter around the weekend or sometime during Monday, just to clarify this will be a Chuck-Blair, it will just take a while to get there..


End file.
